Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Will Work for Food, Teaching People From Russia, Gambia, Sweden, Togo, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Mosiah 2:9

Contemplation?

Tjena!

So this week was actually really interesting... well like every week mostly because I don't know exactly what people say to me so that makes everything better especially for my companion! We started off at a member's doing some service because they have a bunch to do so the people around here give us food in exchange for service which is definitely fine with us no complaints here! It's actually really cool because their son is actually a less active member but he's 16. No one around here makes their kids go to church at all so they can have kids that are less active. But they are a super cool family and we love going over to their place. On Tuesday we went to a lot of places and a lot of appointments fell through. We have so much to do until we get there and then no one is home or they're too busy even though we called to clear it with them that morning... the life of a missionary I guess haha.

So Green and Beautiful Here!

We got to teach some really interesting people this week. So we are teaching this Russian girl that knows 7 different languages but she just got to Sweden. So we are teaching her and we've only taught her once after we contacted her but hopefully we keep building her faith in her Heavenly Father and help her to understand the happiness that comes from living the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are also teaching a man from Gambia who we will set a date to be baptized hopefully this week and his faith is actually pretty tremendous. His wife is still in Africa and he asked if there were missionaries there to teach her about what he is learning. It's so cool to see other people's faith build in God when they keep commitments and make changes in their lives that help them to come close to Christ and Heavenly Father. We also have a baptismal date for hopefully this week or next. She is getting a foreign exchange student this Saturday so we probably have to push the date back but she is super positive. It's a part member family and they are just trying to make a bunch of changes to their lives now that they got married to become a family in the church which is so cool to see.

We teach people from all over the world. This week we had Swedes, Gambia, Togo, Syria, Saudi Arabia... I think that's it.. Oh and Russia. It's pretty cool to see how prepared people from all over the world are being taught regardless of if missionaries are in their countries or not. I am also going to keep an excuse book for the best reasons why people can't talk to us because some of them are pretty good. We went to a door this week and it was my favorite response I told them who we were and that we had a message about what we believed in and he said "det lungt" Which is literally, "It's chill"... I turned around and I just don't understand what is chill about the situation... what kind of a response is that? haha

our morning workouts... I äm not sure what normal people actually do on that

Swedish comes more and more every day and I'm starting to understand what people say to me which is always nice to know what they say so maybe at some point I can speak back haha. No the work is going really well here and I am super excited to continue. One of the coolest things I learned from the scriptures this week was from Mosiah 2:9 it says "... for I have not commanded you to come up hither to trifle with the words which I shall speak, but that you should hearken unto me, and open your ears that you may hear, and your hearts that you may understand, and your minds that the mysteries of God may be unfolded to you." I loved that this week because I know that regardless of where we are or what we are doing, as long as we have the right mindset and our heart is in the right place, God will teach us what we need to know and unfold his mysteries as we search for the answers that we want.

I love you all and it's super cool to hear everyone's stories and what's going on!!
Äldste Israelsen

African Fufu

Oh and the pictures, so a couple are just the city which is absolutely beautiful they have like a giant castle in the middle and right now everything is super green. One is one of our morning workouts... I äm not sure what normal people actually do on that haha. and the other we ate fufu which is an African meal where you pick up the rice stuff with your hands and use it like your "spoon" I guess and eat it with your hands... I'm down with that haha. Have an awesome week everyone!!